


Flesh of My Flesh

by Yessica



Series: Whumptober 2020 Yessica Edition [28]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Found Family Dynamics, Hurt/Comfort, I'm very soft for these kids, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Major Character Injury, Pre-Canon, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:47:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27290692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yessica/pseuds/Yessica
Summary: Things go awry on a mission for Luther. His siblings are there to pick up Reggie's slack.(Whumptober day 30 - Wound reveal)
Relationships: Luther Hargreeves & Everyone
Series: Whumptober 2020 Yessica Edition [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949233
Comments: 3
Kudos: 31
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Flesh of My Flesh

Pain had become too easy to ignore.

They were thirteen years old and trained seven days a week, for hours at a time. Their father had taught them how to tear their own bodies apart, deconstruct their own minds, bite down on their tongues hard enough to taste iron and still persevere.

Their father had made them soldiers.

And Luther – straight-shouldered and straight-laced – was their leader.

So maybe that was why. Maybe that was why the pain didn't even register as a blip on his proverbial radar. He was keeping an eye on everything, on every movement from both his siblings and the criminals they had come to apprehend. His breath was held tight in his lungs, the exhale slow and strenuous and at that moment he could oversee the entire battlefield.

It was a leader's job to keep others safe.

He pulled at Ben's arm just in time, putting his own body between his brother and the man who had just shot at him. The warehouse was small, and the bullet ricocheted off a nearby metal pillar loudly.

The impact didn't feel like anything, air against his skin. That could be why he didn't realize what had happened yet. Ben smiled, that lopsided grin he reserved only for when their father wasn't watching. "Thanks."

Luther grinned right back. "Don't mention it."

Ben tapped his shoulder once and he let go, feeling the sleeve of Ben's uniforms slip from between his fingers. He turned around to deal with the guy that had been stupid enough to use his last bullet so callously, only to see Five had already taken care of him, one foot planted triumphantly on the man's back. Five loved making a show of these things.

He didn't have much time to appreciate the image before someone else tried to use his blind spot to their advantage and Luther jumped back into the fray, dispatching with the remaining gang members near him easily.

Looking around, the others had already finished as well. All criminals had been subdued one way or another, a disgruntled man pinned to the wall by Diego's blades cursed loudly while another lay passed out on the floor. Klaus and Diego were laughing among themselves, goofing off. The only thing left to do was go outside and proclaim their victory to the excited media masses surely awaiting them. Their father _also_ loved making a show.

"Are you done fooling around?" Five asked them. "I'm sure people are getting impatient, namely me. Let's make our little official appearance already so we can go home."

Some intangible weight pulled Luther against a nearby wall. He braced his back against it, wondering why he suddenly felt so exhausted while he listened to the others argue.

"I don't want to deal with them today," Klaus whined.

Diego laughed and slung one arm around his shoulder easily, a gesture of both comfort and taunting. "Duty calls."

With a small frown on his face, Klaus sighed like no thirteen-year-old kid should. "It can keep calling forever for all I care."

Luther felt like he should say something about that. Any other day, he would have said something about that. But instead, he was shaking. His hands were shaking and he didn't know why. He pushed himself against the wall harder, using it to keep himself upright.

"Luther?" Allison had noticed, of course she had. Her eyes darted across his face and she took off her mask, looking at him with sudden urgency. "Luther, what's wrong?"

"I'm fine..." He felt it now, radiating from just below his right lowest rib and all across his chest. The room was starting to tilt to the side so he closed his eyes stubbornly.

Allison grabbed his shoulder. "Luther?"

"I don't-" he started, but got interrupted by a coughing fit. He held one hand against his mouth to stifle his own hurried breathing and it came away covered in blood. "Shit."

"Did Number One just say a naughty word? Dad is gonna be fucking pissed," Diego joked.

"Diego, shut up!" The alarm in Allison's voice was enough to get everybody's attention.

They crowded around him, but a sudden surge of overwhelming dizziness meant Luther barely noticed. His knees buckled, making him slide down the wall and onto the floor and he dropped his head back, feeling the stickiness of blood he had trailed downwards along the metal get stuck in his hair. Everything sounded distant, like he was listening to it underwater.

Somebody was shaking him and the movement made more pain blossom across his body. Luther wanted desperately to push them off, but his arms were shaking so badly now he wasn't sure if he could even lift them anymore.

The next moment, everything pitched into darkness.

* * *

When he woke up the sun had already set.

He was lying on the couch, not the medical cot their father reserved for emergency use. The injury in his stomach throbbed in dull waves and he felt lightheaded, leading Luther to conclude he probably was sedated at some point though it was gradually starting to wear off.

Cracking open his eyes only revealed the blurry shapes of their ceiling. He was in the living room.

"He's awake!" It was Ben's breathless voice reaching him through the haze and mere seconds later his brother was already attaching himself to Luther's arm. His skin was cold.

"Be careful or you'll really kill him," Five said.

That's when Luther realized all six of them were there, even Vanya who looked pale and worried. They had changed out of their mission uniforms, switching into pajamas instead. Somebody – most likely their mother – had undressed Luther and put him in sweatpants and a loose t-shirt. He felt the tight coil of bandages start just above his hip all the way to his midriff, but the wound couldn't be that bad if he wasn't being kept in the infirmary.

"What happened?" he asked, suddenly realizing his throat was dry. He licked his lips.

"You got shot," Five said matter-of-factly, brushing his dark hair from his forehead. "Super strength is not the same as being impervious to damage, Luther. Next time don't catch a bullet."

"It was an accident," he said and then after turning to the side and seeing the way Ben was biting his lip, arms encircling Luther's arm, he repeated softer: "It was an accident, I'm fine."

Ben nodded even if he didn't look wholly convinced. He was the type of person to carry the guilt of the world.

"It did look hella cool," Klaus said idly, plopping down on the couch and on top of Luther's legs, who grunted under the increased weight even though it didn't hurt. "Real superhero stuff."

"We _are_ supposed to be superheroes," Diego told him.

Luther tried to sit up but with the added burden of two of his siblings clinging to him or sitting on him, it was hard. He managed to just raise his head enough to see the rest of the room. "Where's dad?"

Suddenly it was as if nobody wanted to make eye contact with him. Ironically it was Vanya who eventually cleared her throat. "Uh, I think he's still in his study. He went there as soon as you guys came home." Her eyes darted to the staircase in the hallway. "Mom's with him now but she patched you up first."

"Dad didn't even come to check up on you," Allison said. There was an undertone of anger there that Luther could not begin to decipher in his current state. Especially not when it was immediately followed by Diego pushing him into an upright position, briefly making him wince when a sharp sting of pain ran through him.

"Guess that's our cue then." Falling down on the cushion next to his, the others wasted no time crowding in as well, until all of them fitted on the couch somehow – legs overlapping and with Klaus pretty much sprawled out on them horizontally. Luther felt Ben pressed against his left side and Vanya to his right.

"Cue for what?" Five asked, the only one left standing.

"Our cue for ignoring our bedtime and watching a movie or something. Nobody here to stop us right?"

"We'll get in trouble-" Luther tried, though it was hard to talk when he was getting crushed.

"You got _shot_ ," Klaus pointed out. "If that doesn't warrant some rule-breaking I don't know what does."

He didn't have a comeback for that, and even if he did Luther doubted he'd have the energy to get into it. The warmth surrounding him was comforting and cozy, his eyelids felt heavy and while he wasn't in pain anymore he felt much too tense to get up or do anything else. Ben's breathing against him was a steady rhythm, a rise and fall of his chest that could lull Luther into sleep.

The last thing he was aware of was his siblings arguing over which movie they were going to watch and feeling keenly grateful they were all still here.

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by rogue205 on [my Tumblr](http://sharada-n.tumblr.com/)


End file.
